Chronic joint pain, any experience and advice?

[Allegrogirl]

Not for me. DH has pain in all his joints but his knees are very bad indeed. He's having an arthroscopy on the left next month and we're really hoping for some improvement for that.

He's so miserable with the pain but co-codamol and the like make him really bad tempered. We've got a 2 year old and another due in August and he's really worried about being a good dad as the pain is really limiting his activity.

Any words of hope or advice out there?

He could try taking glucosamine if it's arthritic; or he could try taking tart cherry preparations - see here for health benefits. Not the cheapest options but worth it in terms of longterm health and wellbeing (and avoiding surgery).

He could also consider yoga to improve overall flexibility - does he do any gentle exercise at all? Do you know why his joints hurt all the time?

Does he have any raised inflammatory markers? Or has nothing specific been found ?

FWIW, I had years of severe, multi joint pain and swelling. After seeing lots of rheumatologists and having all those tests come back negative, one of them suggested a test for coeliac disease. 2 weeks later, I had more pain relief than any of the painkillers had given me, and in 6 months I was pain and stiffness free - all from just changing my diet

Thanks for your replies. CMOT love the name by the way.

He's possibly got hypermobile joints although no definate diagnosis. He's seen a max fax consultant as his jaw is wobbly, a rheumatologist who was no help, seen physios who couldn't help either. Most recently seen an orthopaedic consultant and had an MRI. He has the knees of a 70 year old and he's not yet 40 and needs a knee replacement but he's too young. I'm not sure if or how this is related to all his joints being too loose and bendy.

He's been told the only suitable exercise is cycling and he cycles to work everyday. He's as active as the pain allows although he was told by the orthopod he shouldn't be walking up hill at all and we live in Devon so not much chance of avoiding it. Because he is compensating for the instability in his legs he has muscles like a rugby player and looks fit and strong so people don't understand how much he struggles.

Me and his mum (also has severe joint problems) nag him about diet but it's hard to convince him as he sees his problems as mechanical/structural. I'm sure changing his diet would help.

I don't actually think there are any answers but I'm so frustrated with it at the moment. DH has recently left a career in nursing due to this. I want to make it better but I don't think I can.

changing his diet would definitely help - it may well be structural but there are things that can be done to help with the collagen structure - ensuring adequate supplies of Vitamin C, manganese, glucosamine in the diet will all help maintain the health of the collagen.

Cycling may in itself cause knee issues - because the muscles in the thigh may develop in imbalance, causing extra pressure on the knee - however that is not likely to be his main problem from what you have said.

Hypermobile joints put extra "wear and tear" on the joints, and can be as a result of looser-than-it-should-be collagen. Has he tried wearing knee braces to help support the joints? Especially if he does have to walk anywhere up hills.

Please make him read the page I linked to before on the tart cherry health benefits - all is not lost yet, he still has time to at least arrest the problems, if not actually make them go away as such.